Moving on in life after intensive care--partners' experience of group communication.

BACKGROUND Partners have a burdensome time during and after their partners' intensive care period. They may appear to be coping well outwardly but inside feel vulnerable and lost. Evaluated interventions for partners on this aspect are limited. AIM The aim of this study was to describe the experience of participating in group communication with other partners of former intensive care patients. DESIGN The study has a descriptive intervention-based design where group communication for partners of former, surviving intensive care unit (ICU) patients was evaluated. METHODS A strategic selection was made of adult partners to former adult intensive care patients (n = 15), 5 men and 10 women, aged 37-89 years. Two group communication sessions lasting 2 h were held at monthly intervals with three to five partners. The partners later wrote, in a notebook, about their feelings of participating in group communications. To deepen the understanding of the impact of the sessions, six of the partners were interviewed. Content analysis was used to analyse the notebooks and the interviews. FINDINGS Three categories were identified: (1) Emotional impact, the partners felt togetherness and experienced worries and gratitude, (2) Confirmation, consciousness through insight and reflection and (3) The meeting design, group constellation and recommendation to participate in group communication. CONCLUSION Partners of an intensive care patient are on a journey, constantly trying to adapt to the new situation and find new strategies to ever-changing circumstances. Group communications contributed to togetherness and confirmation. To share experiences with others is one way for partners to be able to move forward in life. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Group communication with other patients' partners eases the process of going through the burden of being a partner to an intensive care patient. Group communications needs to be further developed and evaluated to obtain consensus and evidence for the best practice.